Dark Christmas
by MookieRoo
Summary: I came up with this creepy Christmas Challenge for myself. The goal is to choose one of the "dark" themes I've selected and pair it with one particular feeling. With both I should write the most Christmas like story I can, trying not to be too dark. I'll be posting each theme in a chapter until the end of December. Enjoy / 1. JORI / 2. CADE / ENGLISH
1. A Christmas Miracle

**Disclaimer: Victorious and it's characters don't belong to me.**

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 **Ship: Jori**

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"I want a Christmas tree and that's that", Tori demanded one last time.

"Well, I don't."

"Too Bad. I live here too and we'll have a tree this year. Right there, on the corner. Call it a miracle, you will celebrate Christmas with me."

"Correction, you moved into my apartment, I don't believe in miracles and, in here, we don't celebrate the birth of any religious bastard."

"He is the son of God."

"Whatever, same fable."

"So, rude. You could at least be respectful of my beliefs."

"Why aren't you respectful of mine. I have no religious affiliation and I don't believe in fairy tales. There shall be no tree in this house, period!"

"Shall?"

"Yes, shall not, will not, whatever not. I don't want to smell nature for days, or worse, to have to assemble plastic branches all over my living room. Sorry."

"You are not. You are just fucking mean."

"You agreed to move in here and I have rules."

"I accepted to move in with my girlfriend. I share expenses; I pay for food, electricity, for your lousy and morbid TV channels. But I can't have a fucking tree? Amazing!"

"You knew who I was when you decided to come here, Tori. Don't play the victim."

"No, to be honest I didn't. But I know now. I'll be out of here with my things by the weekend."

"Excuse me? What the hell in this house is yours other that your clothes." Jade looked back at her with a joyful grin. "And where exactly are you going to stay? A shelter?"

"Where ever is farther away from you. There!"

"Sure, you'll go back to mom and dad, and your lousy sister, Trina. Where they looove us, by the way."

"They might hate you, but they do love me." Tori clarified. "There will be hot cocoa waiting for me in a red cup, a delicious turkey with smashed potatoes on the side, salad and wine. And in Christmas morning, I'll eat those cinnamon and ginger cookies you like so much. Oh, and that exquisite apple pie with caramelized almonds. Mmm, I can already taste them."

"That was cruel. Besides your mom always invites me anyway."

"Oh, no. She invites my girlfriend. But since you and I are no longer dating…"

"Suuure, honey peaches. You'll never leave me."

"Is that what you think?" Tori turn around, grabbed her bag from the sofa and smiled as she opened the door. "I don't need my clothes, I can buy new ones with all the money I'll save from no longer living in this place. And I won't have to convince myself you are worth it, every single night, either. Goodbye, Jade."

That was night one. The goth believed her girlfriend was mad, but she would get over it soon enough. Yet, she didn't return home that night, nor the next day, or the next. By Friday afternoon, Jade got home to and empty closet where the brunette stored her things. Her soft comb was gone, even her toothbrush. That annoying and fluffy rabbit that she loved so much and which laid over her side's pillow, all gone. Everything to the goat cheese she bought last week on the supermarket.

She picked up the phone for the first time in days to make a call and found herself blocked, straight to voicemail. She called one more time, two, three, nothing. She went to Facebook, Tori had unfriended her and she didn't even noticed. Same in Twitter, Instagram and all social media. She was nowhere to be found and her absence bothered her to the core.

She got her jacket and got into her car looking for her at work. Tori usually left past after seven, she could find her and talk some sense into her, right?

Well, it also happened that Tori quit her job four days ago. She received an offer from a big producer, for a part in a popular show that was taped in New York City, she accepted.

"She is leaving," Jade said to herself once she got back into her car. The only place she thought she could find her was going to her parents home. To bad what Tori had said days earlier was true. None of her family even liked her. One of the reasons, Tori decided to accept her girlfriend's offer to move with her in the first place.

Her fingers gravitated all over the wheel. She spent over an hour seated inside her car, deciding what to say when someone opened the door. No one would let her see the Latina; maybe even she would slam the door in her face.

"She is leaving," she repeated breathless, heart beating heavy in her chest. "It's real, we broke up, she broke up with me. We are exes. Done. Over."

She looked again to the shiny house, decorated with lights in the porch and roof. Elves and reindeers all over the garden, jingles heard from afar. Tori must be so happy now, singing, decorating that huge tree the Vegas buy every year. She must be warm and fussy thinking of gifts, eating cookies. Sharing with people that love her.

"She just wanted a fucking tree. Great, Jade."

She turned the car again and drove down the street.

"I'll take the biggest one you have," She said to the man attending the business in that almost empty garage.

"This are the last two, which one you like," he answered showing her the specimens.

"Those, yellow things aren't trees!"

"You have come too late. It's one day before Christmas Eve. You won't find a tree more alive that these. Not unless you go to the forest and cut one yourself."

"Well, if that's the price."

"It's also illegal." The man warned her.

"Only if I get caught."

She hopped into her car and drove straight to the highway. The nearest hardware store was one mile away; there she would by a saw and some rope. Also a set of lights and some Christmas ornaments.

Next was setting the Google Map app in her phone in order to get instructions on how to get to a forest. The closest one was two hours away. She turned on the radio. She had left the house not planning a field trip, so she didn't prepare any music for the road. And anything playing on the airwaves was jingles.

Santa Baby, played in every since station all the way, also Jingle Bell Rock and Last Christmas. By the time she got to the spot, it was impossible not to repeat the lyrics. She got out of the car that she parked in a remote dark entry from the highway. She turned on the lights and began to walk to a decent spot. There was none. The trees were too tall and impossible to reach. However, it seamed that someone had the same idea that she had and had left a couple of attempts on the floor. This person might have thought he was Hulk, but Jade knew better. The saw the bought was electric, not manual and finishing to cut one of the trees was a piece of cake. Dragging it back to the automobile was the hard part. She went for the ropes and made some knots all around the branches, pulling it later by hand.

"Damn Holiday!" She yelled exhausted and there was still some meters left to reach the car. She closed her eyes for a brief moment. The image of Tori slamming the door on her way out, gave her all the strength she needed to pull a final time and strain the tree on top of her car.

"Good, now lets go home, little fucker!" She said starting another two hours back to the city.

It was past midnight when she got home. She unloaded the tree from the car and holding it by the trunk with both hands, she shook it up until all the dust and small bugs fell off.

Once again, she found herself pulling the tree to the elevator and into her apartment. On the way, she found a box that laid on the floor with the word trash all over written with a red marker. As she passed it it turn to the side and parts of dismembered dolls fell off it. It was a curious thing to see, but she was on a mission and left them there. For sure the manager would take them to the garbage in the morning.

She looked around for an object to place the tree in and make it stand in that corner Tori had pointed earlier in the week. A trashcan was all she could find. As usual, someone that has never decorated a tree, she had no idea how to stand it. She watched it carefully, soon realizing that she needed to trim some brunches. All that was dead on the floor she used to fill the trashcan and managed to keep the tree firm and stable. Now the lights. Red lights were all that was left in the store. She bought five sets of a hundred lights. It was more than enough. She took out the tree boxes of ornaments and hung them all around, yet those were just a few. The tree looked sort of naked. She looked all over the house, even thought of making some with some cardboard and scissors. Then as a flash of pure inspiration, an idea popped into her head. The dolls.

She stepped out of her loft and saw the box, still turned on its side. Hurried to it and looking around not to get caught she stole it. She sat by the tree, its red lights flickering and turned it over the floor. Not one doll was complete. There were severed arms and legs. Torsos missing every other part, shaved heads, destroyed faces. But this was no challenge for our dark girl. She went to the small drawer on her vanity and took out some threads and a needle. She saved all reasonable parts and sawed a string for the to hang on the tree. She wanted to have fun and went to the bathroom looking for her red nail polish. All severed heads ended up with some blood painted on the neck, the arms and legs all had some drops as well. The torsos were parts of vampires — according to her—, she added a small toothpick glued in the middle, also with some blood. But come on! Christmas is kind of red, right?

She hung all the new ornaments on and actually felt proud of fulfilling her mission. Of course it had taken her hours. It was over nine o'clock in the morning, Christmas Eve.

If there was going to be a chance for Jade to win Tori over, it was that afternoon, as close to Christmas as possible. So she opted for taking a bath and getting some sleep. There was nothing else she could do that morning. Unfortunately, she didn't set an alarm and when she came back to live from the land of dreams, it was already late.

"How the hell did I sleep for twelve hours!" Jade hurried to pick an outfit. Something half way elegant and sober, her ex in laws were always critical of her appearance.

A nice black skirt with stalkings of the same color and a green top. In her head a Santa Claus hat and in her neck a red scarf.

"Very Christmassy!" She said looking at her reflection in the mirror. She took many pictures of the tree from all the sides and published them on her accounts. There might be a small change Tori would see them, a slim one, but she was hopeful.

She parked in front of the house. Nervousness filled her once again. Should she interrupt her ex girlfriend favorite Holiday like this? It was necessary. She got out of the car, fixed her clothes and walk right to the door.

Jade didn't need to ring the bell. A beautiful dark eyed girl appeared in front of her as soon as she got close to the entrance hall.

"Hey," tall, white and regretful Jade said.

Tori still had a disappointed face; sad eyes, a faked half smile and it hit her. She was leaving.

"This was a mistake. I should go," Jade said with heartfelt pain filling her chest, running directly to her eyelids.

"You look beautiful," Tori yelled calling her attention. Jade stopped as the phrase reached her ears. "So does the tree." She received no answer. "You could've used bunnies instead of heads but… it's beautiful nonetheless."

Jade sighed heavy in her lungs, she didn't turn around. There was no point, she thought and started walking again. She pressed the key of her car and it beeped unlocking the doors.

As she was about to jump in, a hand stopped her pulling her back.

"It's not that easy to get rid of me."

"Are you sure? I heard you were moving to New York in a few weeks."

"Yes, for two months."

"It a great opportunity. I wish you… the best," she genuinely said, and stepped forward to give her a tender and gentle kiss on her cheek.

"Jade, come in. Mom made your favorite apple pie."

"They hate me and we are no longer together so… I should go. Enjoy the night, okay?"

"I'm not moving forever. I'll come back to you. I'll travel January 2nd and return in March," Tori said as a way to convince her.

"There is nothing to come back to. Go to New York. Be happy and find someone that will give you a thousand Christmas Trees."

"Why are you like this tonight? We can fix this! You did it, you got me the most amazing tree. I love it and I love you."

Jade stared at the girl she loved standing right there in that cold deserted street and couldn't help to get a bad, bad feeling. Not even a second later, a car came out of nowhere and with a flash of light the brunette was no longer there.

Jade felt like falling and she suddenly woke up. She was sitting in her kitchen table, Tori was talking as she stared at the TV.

"I want a Christmas tree and that's that", she demanded one last time.

A sense of terrifying darkness crossed in front of her as she realized she had been dreaming, a nightmare, so real she almost had a heart attack.

"What time is it?" She asked her still girlfriend.

"Seven o'clock."

"The tree yard is still open, let's go."

"We are getting a tree?" Tori asked in disbelief, but excited. She left her bowl of Chinese food on the table and stood up quickly to hug her Goth lover. "Yes, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"We will get the prettier tree there is, but… I get to choose the ornaments, agreed?"

"What are you going to do?"

"You will love it, I'm sure."

"Okay, you get the ornaments."

Both slipped into their shoes and grabbed their keys from the entrance table. They held hands as they walked down the hall to the elevator. Tori, happy as she could be. She interlocked her right arm with Jade's left and as they stepped in she said.

"I got a Job offer for a series."

"In New York?"

"How did you know?"

"Let's call it a Christmas miracle," she said, this was all too weird and she didn't want to explain how she pushed her away to her death.

"I won't take it."

"Why? It sounds like an amazing opportunity!"

"To be honest, you just gave me the best reason to stay."

"The tree?"

"Yes."

Jade smiled. The doors of the elevator closed and giving her a kiss they went in search for the perfect tree.

Three weeks later, January second, they both laid in bed watching the news when an urgent news disrupted the show they were watching.

" _We interrupt the current program to inform the citizens of Los Angeles that the flight 36117 with destination New York, crashed over a forest two hours away from the city. The initial report stated that there are no survivors. The severed parts of the passengers' bodies have been found scattered across the trees. Within the deceased, an entire team of soccer players from Puerto Rico, on their way home. They leave entire families grieving. Ironically, one of the banners of their triumph is visible from the sky as we surround the site on our helicopter. It reads: We Remain Victorious._ "

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 **Author's note:**

Hey. So, I came up with this creepy Christmas Challenge for myself. The goal is to choose one of the 5 "dark" themes I've selected and pair it with one particular feeling. With both I should write the most Christmas like story I can, trying not to be too dark. I'm not entirely sure I made it here, but I hope to have amused you at least.

In this chapter I choose dismemberment and desperation, very Christmassy as you can see. There are still some days until Christmas and I hope to complete them all.

See you around.


	2. Christmas Wish

**Disclaimer: Victorious and it's characters don't belong to me.**

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 **Ship: Cade / ?**

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Ghosts are real… or spirits. I mean… one of those.

What's the difference, anyway?

For me they are all the same.

My best friend died when we were twelve. She was perky and nice, always playful and childlike… No, funny, that's the word. I liked that about her; I liked everything about her.

She had beautiful brown hair and big round eyes that filled her face, also brown, dark and bright. She loved the color red, her favorite was the one of red velvet cake; she also loved to eat it. Cat was a simple kind of girl, happy and warm.

You should not be amazed that she was a big Christmas fan. She waited impatiently the entire year for it. As soon as October arrived, she took all the boxes of decorations from the attic and colored her house in red and green, from her living room to the last detail inside her bathroom. Dishes, curtains, towels, even her toothbrush had to have a Santa on the handle. Can you believe it?

I would spend most days with her, especially on the holidays. My family was never too close —as you may know—, or even preoccupied with celebrations. Work has always been the most important word for my parents so, if I wasn't with the Valentines, I was alone. Nevertheless, they always made me feel welcome. On Decoration Day, they would give me a box of ornaments, a Santa's hat, a cup of hot cocoa and let me be part of their family's tradition. It was nice.

I miss them so much.

You may be asking yourself, what happened?

It was Christmas Eve, noon. They were at the highway, as always, everyone was in a hurry and no one had time to care or pay attention. There was a cargo truck behind them; the driver was on his cellphone. He tried to stop, but ended up turning so violently to the side that the whole vehicle turn over and ended up crushing their small car and some others. Mr. Valentine, Mrs. Valentine and my friend, all died almost instantly.

You know? I was supposed to be with them, but my mother had a meeting that morning and I didn't make it on time to their house, so we decided to meet up at the park. We went there every year to give toys to kids from the orphanage around the corner. Cat's mom was a social worker, and it was the mandatory family activity before the big dinner.

I remember waiting for them with a bunch of other parentless kids. Two hours later, I was alone. I watched how everyone left and I stayed behind, seated on that uncomfortable swing. My mom came for me afterwards, it was almost three, she drove me home in complete silence. She didn't say a word, she didn't know how to break such horrible news to a preteen that love those people as her own.

We arrived home and I went straight to my room to call Cat and ask her what happened. If they were mad at me or… Just if I've done something wrong. No one picked up. I laid in my bed, starring at the celling, calling Cat every ten minutes, leaving messages like crazy. Dad came by at night; he stepped into my room and, all business like, stopped one-step from the door.

"I need to tell you something," he said in a cold tone. Scaring the hell out of me. "There was an accident. I'm afraid the Valentines didn't make it."

I've always wondered why people say they are afraid that something happened. It already happened, you know? Anyway, instead of going to Christmas dinner at their house and staying over for the night, I went to the darkest corner of my room and cried my eyes out.

I know. It still hurts, too much.

 _Cat…_

She loved the color red, like red velvet cake.

After hours, I moved only for a second. I felt a glimpse of warmth on my cheek; it was so familiar. Soon the aroma of that particular dessert invaded the air around me and a red light surrounded me. It was so… peaceful.

I opened my eyes and cleaned my tears away. She was there, as she was never gone. All beautiful Cat, her light tan skin, her eyes so brown… her smile.

"Why Am I here?" She asked me. "I was in the car with my parents, then everything went dark and now…"

"Cat? Oh, my God it's you!" I got up with a beat of my heart. She was glowing red and… her hair; it was red, velvet red!

I jumped into her arms. It was real; she was solid, corporeal, warm. For a second I thought I was dreaming and I pinched myself, once, twice… nothing, I didn't woke up.

"What are you doing?" She said.

"Am I dead?" I asked her, worried to my veins that I had cried myself to death or something.

"Why would you be?" She laughed, a little giggle at the end. Cute, just as only she could be.

"Cat, you and your parents were in an accident." I told her, her face went into this unrecognizable shape. "You didn't make it, Kitty Cat."

She then closed her eyes so hard, I think she was trying to remember, but couldn't. She exhaled deeply after a few minutes and finally relaxed her face. She, like me, didn't quite get what was going on.

"Why Am I here?" She repeated. "If I'm dead, shouldn't I be with my parents in heaven?"

"I don't know."

I really had no clue, nothing was as it should, everything was extraordinary, and I was fucking twelve. The mysteries of life and death were way up above me.

"Maybe you should have died with us," she suggested. "Maybe I'm here to pick you up!"

Then, we heard a deep scary voice. It didn't come from the room; it was inside our heads.

"You are not taking Jade out of here, nor are you staying." He explained. "This is a gift. You'll spend this day with her and tomorrow morning you'll come with us."

"Why can't she come?" Cat asked.

"Is not her time, that's all. She will come when she has to, not a minute sooner."

Then the echo went away. Whoever came to leave her with me, disappeared, and I know… this, all this is too unreal for you to grasp, right? But it's true, I'm not lying to you.

She comes every Christmas Eve. She stays with me for the night. We talk, we laugh, we… she… Tori, she is important to me, okay. But you don't need to be jealous of her.

"How important, Jade? You get that I know that this girl is more than you are telling me, right? You talk about her not as if she was just your best friend. You have mentioned her before; maybe you don't remember, but I do. In fact, when we were only friends, you told me that your first girlfriend was this cute redhead that you loved to the end of the world. That she was your adoration…"

"She… Please, Tori. Don't make me say she is no longer important to me. I can't."

"Then how important is she? Are you in love with a ghost?"

"You make it sound as if I was crazy!"

"It's a little crazy, don't you think?"

 _Great, she colors me insane, perfect!_

"Look, I get that you don't believe me, Tor…"

"No, no. Let's say I do. That I believe that you see her on this day every year."

 _Tori looks pissed. She not only doesn't believe me, she is jealous of what my imagination conjures on nights like this._

"What do you guys do… when she comes?"

 _Is she asking me about my relationship with the spirit of my friend? What the hell do I tell her?_

"We talk and… we… It's complicated."

"Sure it is. Do you kiss?"

 _I exhale heavily. Well, it's not like I'm kissing myself on the mirror. I kiss Cat!_

"Yes."

"Do you… Have you done more?"

Oh, fuck! Well…

"Yes."

"So, you are a couple?"

 _She is amazed, and feels betrayed. She is mad, angry and looks betrayed._

"It's not like I can see her every other day! I only see her on Christmas, and you and I happened in June, Tori."

"Well, then you should've waited until January to make your move."

"If I waited, you would've gone out with that scrawny Beck kid!"

"Yeah, I would have. But I wouldn't be the second girlfriend after a freaking ghost!"

"It's not like that!"

 _My girlfriend is Tori, I know that, I'm aware. I'm not expecting to have Cat appear this year and, if she does, she knows how I feel, she knows!_

"I've talked to her about you." _I tell her._

"How? You just said that you couldn't until Christmas Eve? You are going to far with this."

"I write her letters. I burn them and, when she comes, we talk about them. Is like she get's them wherever she is."

"Oh, come on! Honestly, Jade? This game is absurd! What's the point of this? Are you filming me or something?"

"What?"

"Yeah, so you can upload it to YouTube and humiliate me!"

"It's real! Cat is real and I would never hurt you like that. I love you!"

"Sure, that's why you've made my your lover after Casper…"

"I wouldn't say I'm Casper."

 _I turn around and there she is, Cat._

"I'm not that white, or transparent for that matter."

"Kitty Cat."

"Jade," _she says smiling. So pretty, so Cat._ "So, this is her? Tori?"

 _I nod and turn to see her petrified, frozen on the spot._

"You don't have to be afraid," I _tell her waiting for a reaction. I'll even take a scream._ "Cat's doesn't bite." _I wasn't too funny._

"You don't look twelve." _Tori finally says._

"It's because I look as I should if I was alive. It's my corporeal shape."

"How is that even possible?"

"I don't know. I could ask if you want. But you would've to wait a year for the answer."

 _There it is, that giggle. God, this is so hard. It's Cat, my Cat… but Tori, she is alive, Cat isn't. We've been dating for months; we are actually a couple. With Cat, I can say with certainty that even although years have passed, we have only shared five dates. And now that I think about it… we moved awfully fast._

"Jade, said you were pretty. She likes your cheekbones. They are cute."

"Tha… nks?"

"I see that I've interrupted a couples argument. I should go…"

"No!" _I yell. I yelled. Oh, God, I sounded desperate. Tori is not going to take that well._

"I need to clarify things with you," _I tell her._ "I need to… I wish so much, Cat, that… I…"

"You know that when I left the first time I knew one day you were going to have a life without me. I've been just waiting." _She smiles to me taking my hand in hers. Yeah, Tori is not going to like this._ "You have to have a life, you get to have one."

"And you?"

"If you want me to come next year, burn a letter, I'll be here. But…" _She holds her words for a second._ "If you don't, it will be okay."

I _can't take my eyes of her. This is my friend, my first love, my one Christmas wish. I don't want to say goodbye, I don't._

 _I feel Tori's hand reaching my waist softly from behind._

"That won't happen tonight _." She says to the two of us._ "Cat, stay with Jade."

 _I don't understand. No longer than ten minutes ago she was exploding with jealousy and now…_

"We all have something to let go off, usually when we find happiness, true happiness that is. It's never easy to say goodbye and I won't be the one to force you two apart," _Tori says getting closer to me, she smiles and gives me a tiny kiss on the lips._ "It's one night a year with your best friend. Have fun." _She says, turning to face Cat._ "Not to much fun though, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am!" _My friend responds._

 _Tori lets her smile carry her to the door and she closes it behind her. I'm once more alone with Cat. Nothing will happen other than friends talking, laughing. Maybe I'll tell her my fears with Tori, maybe she already knows. However, there is one thing that I am sure of; she is still my gift, my only Christmas wish and I do love her._

 **Author's Note:**

Hey, sorry for the delay, but Christmas is really busy for me.

So, this chapter was dedicated to a friend, rustjacque12, although she asked for a Cade with the theme of Ghosts and Passion. I couldn't quite write a lemon with a ghost. Sorry, I owe you big time.

Te la debo Jack.

Thanks to all that left a review: _**megameneko707, Invader Johnny, Lushcoltrane, rustjacque12, ScottyBgood, PurpleLuva 13**_. I know the time it takes to read and leave a review, so thanks for your words.

I have two stories already in my head, hopefully I can write them these days.

Happy Holidays!


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